4 days ago
"It's A Scam": Frugal People Are Calling Out The So-Called Money Saving Habits That Secretly Drain Your Bank Account
1.
Trying to save money in 2025 sometimes feels like trying to run up the down escalator: you're trying as hard as you can, but you're stuck in the same place. However, some of your so-called money-saving habits could be making the struggle worse than it needs to be. Recently, people on Reddit called out the things that people think are big money savers that drain their funds instead, and I miiiight be guilty of a few. Here's what they had to say:
2."Driving across town to save three cents a gallon on gas."
—will_write_for_tacos
"My dad left a gas station to drive across town to get three cents off. The second station had raised prices, so he drove back. The original station had raised prices in the 1.5 hours it had taken to drive across town and back. So two cross-town trips to pay 15 cents extra."
—Aguy_incognito
3."If you're an arts and crafts person, seeing something you want and thinking, 'I can just make it myself and it'll cost me a lot less.' That is the devil whispering sweet lies directly into the tender ear of your hubris. If you don't already have nearly all of the necessary supplies on hand, it will cost you more to make it yourself."
—kardiasteria
"I sew, and today I saw something on Instagram and was like 'why buy it for $100 when I can spend $2000 to make it myself' 😵💫. Too real, lol. If nothing else, seeing the price of fabric made me appreciate why clothes that aren't made in a sweatshop are more expensive."
—Shot_Satisfaction727
4."Avoiding doing maintenance on things. Sure, it's cheaper today, and it'll probably all be fine tomorrow, but sooner or later it's gonna bite ya."
—New_Line4049
"Schedule your maintenance or it will be scheduled for you."
—scarfknitter
5."Renting a storage unit."
—El_Grande_Americano
"Over the course of 20ish years, my wife spent $13,000 to store $200 worth of stuff that she threw away when she decided to stop renting the unit."
—ClownfishSoup
6."Buying stuff just because it's on sale. Were you going to buy it at full price? No? Then it's not savings, it's an expenditure."
—zeptillian
"I worked with someone like this. He would go buy shit that was on sale because he might need it in the future. Like a bunch of tools and shit.
He would frequent estate sales and pawn shops, too. Buy piles of junk and then claim at the end of it how much money he saved. I'm like, no, you actually spent $500 instead of saving $250."
—Samsquanchiz
7."My in-laws would drive all over town chasing grocery sales. Milk is cheaper here, chicken is on sale here, bread is buy one get one at this store, etc. Even if you don't make additional impulse buys at each store, who the fuck wants to waste that much time, energy, gas and mental bandwidth on groceries? It was like a weird obsession and was exhausting just hearing about. Like… pick a fucking store and be done with it. Change it weekly if you want to. But for fucks sake, going to five different stores to meal plan is bonkers."
—BabyNOwhatIsYouDoin
"I am guilty of this myself, but I guess it depends on how dense an area you live in. The three grocery stores I regularly go to are all within a half-mile radius of my apartment, and I just walk to them. There are another two that are only a mile away that I make it out to sometimes, too. Doesn't really take me more than an hour to go to two of them, and it's a pleasant morning stroll on the weekends."
—the_sexy_muffin
8."Buying the cheaper and smaller packages of food at the grocery store. The price for the amount of food is often a lot higher. It's better to buy the larger-sized ones, and then maybe freeze some of it."
—Confidentium
"I've noticed companies sneaking the price per unit up on the larger sizes recently. You can't always rely on this anymore. Always check the price per unit."
—Whiteums
"Except if you're only buying what you can reasonably use before expiration. My spouse bought a large bottle of barbecue sauce when we use it maybe once a year. Now we've wasted fridge space, and more is going in the trash. Yellow mustard is something I like to have for when I want it, but I only really need a small jar. So it can be better to buy a smaller size, especially if space is at a premium."
—GlassBandicoot
9."The 'buy one get one half off or with discount' type of deals. Anything that incentivizes you to buy more by tacking it on as a bonus if you get it. If you're buying in bulk or such intentionally, then it's a good deal. But if you just came in for one box of let's say cookies for $5, and it had one of these deals. So you buy a second box too because it's discounted and says if you buy two, it will cost $8, as opposed to $10. So you get it thinking you're saving money."
"Instead, you just spent $3 more than you had to on a second box you didn't even come in for.
And it repeats throughout the whole store. It's everywhere, especially in food. The flashy colored tickets, the bold letters, emphasis on how much you save, all to bait people to buy more things than they actually need.
Though it depends on what your actual goals and needs are. It might genuinely save you some and be good, but you could also be getting ripped off."
—Rubysage3
10."Meal kits like Hello Fresh. They cost as much as your grocery bill, but you only get dinner, and you still have to go to the grocery store to get other things."
—CulturalAtmosphere85
"We only use them when they give us 50% off and for the convenience. Sure, it's just dinner covered, but you're paying for not having to think about it."
—Traceofbass
11."Fast food. Yeah, it's fast and it's food, but at what cost?"
—tushadume
"Same as a regular fuckin sit down restaurant these days, by my experience."
—Lady_Irish
12."The dollar store. You're paying way more per item, but I understand their utility is to help get by when you can't afford a full item or to buy in bulk. If you're not paycheck to paycheck, though, it doesn't make sense to shop there."
—Hour-Newt-8391
"I go for things that are the same quality: Bobby pins, hair ties, brooms, sponges... These things all measure up functionally and are way cheaper than, say, Walmart."
—hijinxxx_
13."Took me a while to realize that using the dishwasher saves me more money than washing dishes by hand."
—NumberCapital7000
"Dishwashers are very efficient. They use far, far less water, and since you use less water, you need less energy to heat up the water needed."
—MrLeureduthe
14."Carrying a balance on a credit card to build credit. You don't need to carry a balance to build credit."
—semi-anon-in-Oly
"Many years ago, I got my first credit card. I used to pay it off religiously. I'll never forget having a conversation on the deck with my father when he told me the only way to build credit is to carry a balance.
It sent me down a dangerous spiral and was some of the worst financial and life advice I ever received. I have been chasing that 'advice' and burden half of my adult life. I paid off one of my cards yesterday, and it has never felt better."
—SisterCity212
15."Buying really cheap stuff. I'm not saying you have to buy top of the line, but at least get something semi-quality so you don't have to constantly replace it."
—SillySub2001
"You can only afford the cheap stuff, then it breaks, and you can only afford to replace it with more cheap stuff. It's a vicious cycle that not many people can break out of."
—TheNerdFromThatPlace
16."Buy now, pay later for anything that isn't an appreciating asset or generating cash flow. Like a burrito, refrigerator, phone, wedding, etc. I interned at a BNPL firm, and I'm telling you all from firsthand experience, it's a scam."
—Double-Discount9217
"This just isn't true either. You are always screwing yourself.
BNPL companies make money in two ways. One: off interest payments on missed payments. Some people will convince themselves they are smart shoppers that won't fall for that, and pay it off in time, so free convenience.
The second is that the retailer pays on average a 6% margin on the sale to the BNPL company. Why would the retailer do that? Why would they offer it as an option and pay this company if it literally costs them profit? Because time and time again it has been demonstrated that those 'smart shoppers' buy way more shit they don't need when the checkout number is smaller because of the pay later option.
If you have a buy now, pay later account with any service, they have almost assuredly gotten you to overspend."
—dalmathus
finally, "Voting for Trump."
—ThePepperPopper
Is there anything you would add to the list? Tell us about it in the comments or via the anonymous form below:
